If Shadowbane had been coded better that game would have been the best MMO ever(in my eyes). There has not been a game that matches the amunt of unique characters you can play. From classes, to disciplines, to skill/weapon training, up to this day people come up with new viable builds. If not for the lag/crashes, huge banes and conquering guilds was awesome.

 Visit this website: Straybulletgames.com

 It's from many of the creators of Shadowbane, they are using middleware and have learned a lot from SB. There are so many great things to take from Shadowbane it's hard not to at least give it some thought.

I am full time game player but haven't play mmo for a couple months. Because it bored me fast.  Login the game become a job to grind for better drop, grind for gold to buy some junks, group to get faster exp or better weapon drop or quest item etc. It could be fun sometimes if the game itself is fun enough, otherwise, the game lose entertainment essence but just there for you to killing time. 

it is a way to save your money to play mmo because it cost very much if you buy most of just relesed single game, and even more money if you play not only PC games but XBOX or PS3.

But cheap quality mmo or free to play mmo not any longer to provide you with entertainment but they just want to make money, So, I am back to single game and if there is really one good mmo then I will try as well.

I think a good number of people who were once totally into the mmorpg games are leaving. Because the industry has not given us anything new or anything that looks inspired at all in the last few years. Things are generally a EQ clone or a Lineage clone...with your once in a while Diablo clones like Dungeon Runners and Hellgate...

I sort of agree. MMO need enough chatter or they fail fast.

Although I detest vent, I see MMO as a giant chat box first and foremost.

If no chatting takes place, if the UI doesn't support a lot of channels or if everyone plays the game as a single player game, I'm not playing it. Sadly, WAR is like that.

And that's a step back in MMO design, not a step forward.

The last years I'd never played a MMO longer than a couple weeks. But I'll have the problem that everything feels same and lack of joy. Seems like this is common among those who played MMOs before WoW/EQ2.

EVE is the only game I can think of breaking free from the clones.

And I'd hope Earthrise, Darkfall and Fallen Earth might give me the thrill back in MMOs.

I honestly have not been able to get into another MMO like I was Pre-CU SWG.  It was the only MMO I have ever played that felt like a WORLD.

All the other MMOs feel like a singleplayer RPG.  It feels so fake, so restrictive, so repetitive.

I think Darkfall at least offers something quite different.  Now whether it delivers on the promise is yet to be seen, but it does promise something unique in the market today.

Still, Pre-CU SWG, with all of its bugs and changes, was the only game I ever played that made me feel like I was actually a character in a vast world, trying to carve out a life.  When a game captures that, to me, it is worth paying to play.

AoC, WoW, WAR, PotBS, Vanguard, and all the others I have played come nowhere near capturing the immersion that Pre-CU SWG did, despite all of the issues it suffered from.

My opinion is that a lot of long term mmo gamers are just over exposed to mmo's as a whole. To play 40+ mmo's in a 10 year span is about 90 days average spent per game.

Maybe its to many mmo's on the market, maybe its the hype machine that makes players hop from game to game so fast. But ill say it again, in my opinion players that burn though that many mmo's are over exposed.

I think a gamer of any genre playing that many of the same type of titles will hit burnout, and only a break away from the genre for a while will let them see games with fresh eyes again.

I'm enjoying EQ2, and EVE again after a 2 year walk away from MMO's. Its made a big difference in my view of mmo's.

Not only that, as most of us hardcore who art seeking a near perfect MMO with real RPG (unlike World of Whinecraft /cough /cough /spit) and most other sucky sucky not worth a dollar$ MMO had seriously damages it customers base of trust.

If any MMO todate releases game without beta test is a no purchase from most of us. Sorry but it true that we had lost trust in the hype factor likewise.

Spore was hypes great... for a few minutes... thankfully.. it.. not.. a.. MMO!. EA can kiss my butt with limit installation which meant that when you purchase a game with limit installation is not yours to buy but rents.

Stick with pirates!.

MMO's have just begun. Just because a couple of veteran whiners think it's all down the hill dosn't mean it is..

 Youve got WoW to blame for the crappy MMOGs nowadays,apart from the few oddball MMOGs who try something different and succed (EVE,etc.) you will find a ton of WoW-style gameplay MMOGs with different themes.

 SWG was a great exemple of a good game,if they would have just fired the guys in charge of patch fixes (pre CU/NGE),it would be another succesfull game ,instead they kept their dumb devs and we kept getting nerfs instead of fixes.

 Basicly nowadays,games arent made by GAMERS,they are made by fat guys who like to stuff their butt full of cash,they try the same recipe wich worked for WoW and they fail ... and they fail again to realise why they fail. Because people wont realy want to eat the same chocolate bar that has a different wrapping from 100 different people,they will prefer to stick to the original.

Originally posted by Enigma

Originally posted by almout30

MMO's have just begun. Just because a couple of veteran whiners think it's all down the hill dosn't mean it is..

 

{ Mod Delete }

lol

Seriously though, all the ppl that made the pre WoW mmos what they were, and still are to some...well, we arent dead yet. Just because the genre changes for the 'new' generation doesn't, or shouldn't, mean we, who laid the foundation playerbase for mmos, should be left out.

If all you have is WoW's as defense...then my friend, you haven't two legs to stand on. That's just my opinion, and you can take it whichever way you want, but don't think for a second that whatever you spew out henceforth will even make a dent in my, or those who agree with me, beliefs.

Walmart  I was just thinking that, this is a day of money ,and invention has gone! These are the worst mmo's I have ever seen! Most people talking about reverting to older games and find nothing. The problem with mass market mmo's(as they look to WOW), if you want to make money follow the blueprint or your fiered !Everyone is looking darkfall as solution, and it will have a necron lvl type system/without the bugs(hopefully), but a make your char. what ever you want class/career system, open world heavy population and the sort. Well anyone ever walked into orgimmar on WOW and seen 10,000 dumbass's try too crash there server? And even with that acknowledge I am going to play darkfall, if that does not pan out I am done with mmo's! With you on that big guy!

isnt every game made to make money off of it? maybe you should find another activity to keep you occupied. if i did the same thing for so long i would get bored of it to. when you are ready to play another game play it to have fun dont take it so serious.

Originally posted by ASmith84

isnt every game made to make money off of it?

Yes but there is a difference between creating goods and services for profit and creating subpar goods and services to make more profit.

he's from china

Once upon a time, MMOs were a new frontier for mankind to explore. It was exciting and dangerous. We grouped together to survive and prosper. We've been to the limits of where we can go with our imagination/technology. Sure the worlds can grow larger and look better, but it's still the same keyboard/mouse experience time and time again, nothing has changed in how you play the game.I wouldnt expect a new frontier situation until a new method of input is developed.

Perhaps taking a break for now will help out, though I would recommend against giving up on MMO's completely.  In about 5 years time, the publishers will have their power base shakened by the Indies.  Though I would like to post a white paper about this, to keep it short here on the forum, review the deconstruction of the Music Industry.

The major music labels are loosing money and have proclaimed the CD to be dead, along with all other forms of physical media.  But although the major labels are loosing money and putting out (even they admit to this during group meetings) junk, the smaller independent music companies and artists are making money.

The key point is this; Audio is the Trend Setter. 

What happens to Audio will eventually follow suit with the other forms of media (Video, Multimedia and Interactive Multimedia).  As of now, Video is now going through pains that Audio has had for the last 5 years; and we're just seeing the very initial stages with computer games.  Think of the game publishers as the major music labels and the games as music CD's.  The same thing will happen to the gaming industry; a collapse of the big publishers due to entrenched thinking, with smaller independent companies forming and growing by catering to niche markets with digital distribution.

So...we need a non-profit MMO? A Mozilla.org of MMOs. Sounds like a good idea to me.

A couple things need to change before that can become a reality though. The biggest is 3D art has to become essentially free. There are a lot of artists in the world, but so very few talented 3D modelers, and animators. That isn't going to change, so stuff like procedural art tech needs to progress further.

The other issue is bandwidth. Bandwidth is way too expensive right now unless you are lucky and live in Japan or Scandanavia.

Processing power, and programming have begun to reach the point where they are essentially free though, so we are half-way there. Both the other issues are being worked on, but still are years away.

Originally posted by protoroc

Once upon a time, MMOs were a new frontier for mankind to explore. It was exciting and dangerous. We grouped together to survive and prosper. We've been to the limits of where we can go with our imagination/technology. Sure the worlds can grow larger and look better, but it's still the same keyboard/mouse experience time and time again, nothing has changed in how you play the game.I wouldnt expect a new frontier situation until a new method of input is developed.

 

I'm no real fan of current MMORPG's, I'm like a lot of folks looking for something to suit my taste (I've played UO, AC, DAoC, L2, WoW, GW and many many others) 

but....

What the heck are you guys looking for? They are only video games after all.

Its no secret WAR was going to be the way it turned out, anyone who is a vet of MMOs should have seen AoC going down the way it did from day one....its Funcom afterall, you all forgot about Anarchy Online...

There is still a lot to look forward to. Take a break and remember...they are just games in the end.

Check back in a year.

MMOs will continue to evolve and change over time. Stop looking for Jesus to launch the holy grail and just enjoy the few quality MMO's there are and don't pre-order and don't sub to games that are unfinished or take advantage of the players. Its not that big of a deal.

Try bowling.

Originally posted by Enigma

I think Ive played almost every pay to play mmo including many bad free to play ones.

I have had the opportunity to be a staff here, at EVE (on their Polaris team: an ingame guide and official forum mod), at Anarchly Online (ARK program), Everquest 2 (As Guide), Vanguard (Live Quest Guide). SWG (Guide), etc.

I mentioned the credits because I know someone will say, well you haven't played them all. Actually, I kinda have played them all (well 98% anyways).

The MMO Genre is going down the shitter fast. True, I see this in many single player games (Spore and Force Unleased being two examples of games ran on hype turning out to be blah) but I have seen this in way too many MMOs.

To me, MMOs are developed to be a money making scheme; nothing more. There is little to no regard to actual developmental goodness in current MMOs. Its pretty much, lets throw all this shit together and see what happens.

I thought this way back in April earlier this year. People said to hold out and wait. AoC and WaR is coming out soon. Well. AoC sucks really bad. I cannot tell you how much that game sucks. Who knows, it may get better now that the Groucho guy is gone but Im not going to spend more money to found out either.

Then came WAR. No one talks in the game. NEVER. Not in groups, not in warbands, not in public, not under a car, over a bus or in a star. They just dont talk. PvE quests are atypical and RvR is a bunch of people standing here and a bunch of people standing there with an occasional person breaking from the Zerg to get others to push forward.

Don't even get me started with Darkfall. Its shadowbane all of over again. Pure and simple.

Ill still hang out in the forums but my MMO days are done.....until they actual lvl the bar of developmental talent above "Retard" I am staying away from them.

Just my thoughts. Thought I would share them

i'm right there with you my brother. this is the most stagnant industry ever. imagine if ford decided that the edsel was so good that they need not refine or improve the automobile? a spear can defend....why bother with guns? cutting off an infected limb saves a patient, why develop antibiotics? we can only hope that with each new flop that industry collapse draws ever nearer.....and don't kid yourself it's comming...and then once the bean counters move on we can have our fun back. indie development teams are the future of gaming. over are the halcion days for the dinosaurs. fallen earth,earthrise,mortal online...and yes even darkfall (maybe if it actually exists) are the future of mmos.

in short this industry needs an enema. dev teams bound by venture capitol bean counters, unable to push new ideas out, knowledge rich and wisdom poor companies chasing non-existent customers, free to play rmt clones, devs who i belive are honestly working off of EQ spreadsheets.....something has to give.